There was only Quarless, Finley and the Green Bay Packers’ director of player development, Rob Davis present. So Quarless opened up. The catches downfield. The rugged yards after contact. The performing like a man possessed. Quarless told Finley how much the tight end’s play these last three, four weeks have “inspired” him.

No, he did not want to become a starter in the NFL this way. Not even close. But right then, Quarless decided he’d play for Finley.

“I didn’t want it like this,” Quarless said Wednesday. “That’s real. But it is what it is. You have to step up like a professional. That’s my brother.”

The schedule doesn’t stop. Quarless and the Packers can’t hit pause. The cold reality of the situation is that Jermichael Finley is out with a neck injury. Testing continues. Coach Mike McCarthy said again Wednesday that the tight end is still seeking multiple medical opinions.

So now — with his friend out — Quarless steps into the limelight. Brandon Bostick elevates into a larger role. And rookie Jake Stoneburner, he’s around to help, too.

Yes, this is a collective effort.

But replacing Finley starts with a player who was out all of last season himself with a torn ACL and MCL. Quarless. The one hunched over an immobile Finley in tears last Sunday becomes the starter this Sunday.

The Packers need the 6-foot-4, 252-pound Quarless to be ready physically, emotionally.

“I’m going to be ready; I’m going to be ready,” Quarless repeated. “At the end of the day, I have to be. All I can do is pray for him. The preparation and approach doesn’t change.”

Inside that hospital room, Quarless half-expected Finley to be in a concussed-like daze. Instead, Finley was his usual animated self, he said. The whole experience was “like a movie,” Finley told Quarless. Being taken off on a stretcher, the ambulance ride to the hospital, it all felt surreal.

When Packers team physician Pat McKenzie stepped in to speak to Finley, Quarless ducked out. From the hallway, he heard the first questions Finley asked.

What’s the timetable? When can I return?

There’s no telling when if that day will come. On Monday, a source confirmed to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Finley bruised his spinal cord. And on Wednesday, ESPN reported Finley does not need surgery.

He’s no doctor. But Quarless believes we’ll all see Finley on a field again.

“Definitely, definitely,” Quarless said. “He’s a competitor.”

Not any time soon, though. As coach Mike McCarthy said, “You don’t just replace (Finley) based on the way he was utilized and the production that he gives us.” The Packers eye “roles” for Quarless, Bostick and Stoneburner. But if Quarless is playing for Finley, he’s sure as heck going to try to play like Finley.

And that’s as a route runner, as a menace after the catch.

“Just the way he’s been playing right now has been amazing to me to see,” Quarless said. “Just the effort, all I can do is just match it. That intensity. It starts with that intensity. So I definitely go hard on blocks, but maybe I could bring more intensity to route running and yards after catch and stuff like that, which I think I could do.”

Before the season, the two tight ends talked at length about duplicating New England, about burning defenses in two-TE sets. They looked at each other, Quarless reminisced, and said, “We could dominate this league.” Easing his way back from knee reconstruction, Quarless hasn’t been featured in the offense.

Now, he’ll likely see more opportunities in the passing game. One expected change? Quarless will be asked to run different types of routes. Don’t be surprised if he shoots upfield more often. He believes he can run the seam route that made Finley such a matchup problem.

The quad injury that slowed Quarless through camp isn’t a problem, he says. Overall, the tight end vows he’s healthy and ready.

“I was born for this,” Quarless said. “I’m going to be ready.”

Quarless had this same chance as a raw, thin rookie in 2010. That season, he caught 21 passes for 238 yards with a touchdown after Finley tore his meniscus. Since then, opportunities have been scarce. He’s been either injured, an extended lineman or a fourth/fifth option in the passing game.

Quarless’ dad still remembers that Dec. 4, 2011, night in New York. It was a homecoming of sorts for the Brooklyn native.

Named a captain against the Giants, Quarless wrecked his knee covering a kickoff. Suddenly, he was crying and hobbling around a crowded visitor’s locker room in crutches.

Duncan Quarless says his son internalizes his emotions. He’s not the type of player who “will give the pep-rally cry.” Yet inside, he believes there’s a deeper appreciation for this sudden, unexpected opportunity in 2013 because of that sudden, unexpected injury in 2011.

“There are aspects that add some flavor to the nature of the mental toughness,” Duncan Quarless said. “There’s a certain irony to coming home to New York and getting injured….With all of that hype, to have it in the culminating moment of the game, include the type of injury he suffered, I think there’s added mental anguish to that situation.

“I’ve appreciated, over time, what I take as a strong, internal resolve.”

Of course, he’ll have some help, too.

Brandon Bostick has stuck around as a Finley Lite since making the team as an undrafted rookie from Division II Newberry College last season. The 6-foot-3, 250-pound, athletic Bostick, who spent one year on the college basketball team, as been teasing his athleticism in the passing game. It’s just that the Packers probably didn’t expect they’d need him this soon.

Thus far, coaches have been hesitant to play Bostick. Playing with Aaron Rodgers demands on-the-fly, pre-snap adjustments. That’s been a process for the young tight end.

“I’m pretty confident but there’s always a revolving door in this offense,” Bostick said. “You have to pick it up week to week, so I think I’m still learning. I’m still learning the game plan. Hopefully, I’ll be ready on Sunday.”

So far, Bostick added, coaches haven’t dulled the game plan for the tight ends as a whole. Nothing has changed.

eally, a tight end in Green Bay’s offense is versatile. His presence keeps the defense off-balance. This season, Finley has lined up in tight, the slot and split out.

Quarless is setting the bar high.

“He was definitely a big threat lost,” Quarless said. “But I can only match the way he was playing with that intensity. But maybe as the game progresses, I can get to that level where they start doubling me, they start thinking about me. Right now, they might not be thinking about No. 81 too much.

“It’s not a bad thing. I’ll be able to sneak up on them and catch a couple passes.”

Added Bostick, “I view myself as a younger Jermichael. But I don’t try to mimic him. I just try to do the best that I can do.”

On Wednesday, after a foreign swarm of television cameras receded, Quarless turned toward the empty “Finley” locker to his left. It’s strange not having his friend around. In the tight end room, the 26-year-old carried “a certain aura.” And while Quarless did all of this in 2010, it’s different now. He’s closer to Finley. There’s a tangible, emotional toll to replacing him this time.

“His locker’s right here,” Quarless said, “so this is the guy I’m speaking to every day.”

Sunday was rough on Quarless, but he’s feeling more at peace now. Once Finley leaves the hospital, he plans on visiting him at his home.

For now, he can only pray. And play.

The two didn’t talk football that night in the hospital, but Quarless knows what Finley’s thinking.

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